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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Random Act of Kindness

Today I had a rough morning. I know as a mother I’m supposed to be the one who holds it all together when everyone else is falling apart, but I just couldn’t do it today. One kid woke up cranky and got another kid cranky, and I joined the cranky team. My great wisdom and many years of experience failed me big time.

I seriously couldn’t figure out how I was going to get in a better mood. I didn’t want to listen to music. I didn’t want to read. I didn’t want to go on a walk. I really didn’t want to do anything. Suddenly I remembered something I saw on Pinterest. One woman spent her 35th birthday doing 35 random acts of kindness with her children. I didn’t have all day to do random acts of kindness, but I did have a half hour.

I loaded up the kids and grabbed $3 in quarters. As I handed out the quarters to the kids, I explained that we were going to be Santa’s helpers.At first the kids were super excited, but after seeing the neat things in the candy and toy machines they wanted to buy something for themselves. I reminded them that today our treat was to give to others, and they quickly got back into the spirit of things.

We had so much fun running from store to store leaving little surprises for some lucky kid to find. We went to a strip mall so they would all be close together and hit Albertsons, Ace Hardware, Dollar Tree, the laundromat, and Blockbuster. As we were running over to the bank, Camille said she felt warm inside and that she knew that was the Spirit. Tate told me he felt “very smurfy.” {Has anyone else seen The Smurf’s one too many times?} As we were looking for a candy machine, the teller at the bank asked if she could help us. Unfortunately the only candy they had was what the tellers hand out to the kids, which sparked an idea. We asked if she would give our quarter to a kid who came in to the bank and wish them a Merry Christmas from another kid helping out Santa.

It was the best medicine EVER. Seriously. If you're having a rough day you should try it. If you need ideas {or even just one!}, here is the original post.

15 comments:

Awesome! What a great way to change the mood of a day. I haven't had time to blog but the kids and I did a RACKed (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness) advent this year. We did one random act of kindness per day from December 1 through December 25th. I will confess some days we prepared a RACKed and then delivered several in one day to avoid going out every day. I'm gearing up for another fun birthday - 37 this time!

I asked a friend this week who was being negative, if she ever thought about volunteering or helping others. I told her it would change Her life and make her happier. Her response was very negative and insulting. I explained to her that we all need to step out of our comfort zone and our own little lives and help others. I told her how it changes my life. I explained to her about my work with the homeless and on behalf of others less fortunate. I explained all the good she can do. She had never considered helping others. She now believes perhaps she can help others and if not, be more compassionate instead of judgemental all the time. She had been complaining about the homeless and how they "expected" help. I explained they were people just like us, that were having very hard times and we should be compassionate. Sometimes just to change the world, we need to change one negative attitude at a time. Changing her from being mean and judgemental, to considering helping others, made such a differance. I saw the differance planting the seed of caring makes.

I followed from the 35 Random Acts post too. I'm loving this. My family and I did it during Christmas time...it's absolutely addictive. My boys are always nudging me to pay for the people behind us in the store. Wish I had the money they think I have...hahahah.

Isn't it awesome when our kids catch the spirit of giving?! You are giving your boys the opportunity to experience the joy that comes from giving to others - way to go! Often my kids will suggest something grand like that and I have to suggest doing something smaller :)